How Far Can A PI (Private Investigator) Go? This story and more!

For all their snooping into other people’s business, most PIs are loath to have someone snooping around them. I’m told by one (who won’t give me his name) that I’ll be lucky to find anyone who’ll give me the time of day. Why? “The nature of the industry,” he says, evasively. I call another in Perth. He says he can’t talk. Why? “Legal reasons.” What legal reasons? He hangs up. Desperate, I reach for the phone book and call a private investigations company with the most respectable sounding name I can find, but the weary voice down the line from “Flingbusters” refuses to help.

Unlike Twitter, private investigators don’t send you alerts to let you know you’re being ­followed. If you’ve ever been off work due to an injury, or received compensation for a road accident, chances are you’ve been followed by one. So how far are PIs allowed to go in their covert surveillance of your life?

Actually, they have no more powers than you or me. They are not privileged to any information not legally obtainable by the public. Neither are they required to undertake professional development or show any real evidence of their competency. In fact, for around $1000 you could become a licensed private investigator in a couple of days. Simply complete a short course, take your certificate to the state police and receive your license.

St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary E. Rain is being sued for $1,800 by a Canton private investigator who claims she failed to pay him for services rendered while she was a defense attorney in private practice….

“I DO not understand…..” declared the private detective working as a corporate investigator in China. This was his declaration to the court on August 8th when confronted with evidence of alleged wrongdoing. In the end, he and his wife, who is also his business partner, were found guilty of violating laws protecting personal privacy. Mr Humphrey was jailed for two-and-a-half years; his wife, for two.

The verdict did not come as a surprise. Even so it sent chills down the spines of investigators carrying out due diligence on prospective business partners. Life was never easy for such folk, given that information on such basic things as credit history and asset ownership is hard to verify in China. Now it will get harder still.

* EVCO LLC, EVCO Investigations, John Morris and the author of any of our articles, posts and pages do not present any information on this website as legal advice or any other advice in particular. All postings, writings, and pages on this website are for informational use only and everyone is encouraged to always seek professional and legal advise in all matters.

** All articles are copyright protected upon posting and subject to federal copyright protection laws.